MORGANTOWN — For the third consecutive offseason, the WVU men’s basketball program is forced to reconstruct the basketball roster.
New head coach Ross Hodge quite literally secured a big start toward piecing the roster together.
The Mountaineers received the first known transfer portal commitment of the offseason with a pledge from UNC Wilmington center Harlan Obioha.
The 7-foot, 280-pounder, attracted plenty of interest once he entered the transfer market from a long list of schools such as Texas, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, Wichita State, Wake Forest and Rutgers, among others. The Mountaineers were among that list and were able to secure his commitment.
Obioha spent only one season with the Seahawks, where he averaged 9.2 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and shot 63% from the field, while starting 23 games last season.
That included seven points and nine rebounds against Texas Tech in the opening round of the NCAA tournament prior to entering the transfer portal March 26.
The Kansas native started his career at Niagara. where Obioha redshirted in his first year after joining the team at the mid-year before averaging 2.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in the first season on the floor in just over nine minutes per game. Those totals jumped significantly as a sophomore to 10.3 points and 7.8 rebounds prior to entering the portal and transferring to UNC Wilmington.
Obioha is more in the mold of a traditional big that scores the majority of his points around the basket with around 70% of his baskets and 90% of his field-goal attempts at the rim. Obioha displays soft hands and solid feet which make him a good passer for his size as well as being effective in the pick and roll.
The big man was especially effective on the offensive glass as well as when it comes to protecting the rim ranking among the nation’s best this past season when he was on the floor.
Obioha is the first of what is expected to be many transfer additions for West Virginia this off-season and brings the total number of scholarship players on the roster to four although that could certainly change.
Expect more movement to occur as Hodge made it clear that the process of identifying and setting up visits are underway so the program can bring transfers to campus after the dead period ends April 10.
But quality bigs are hard to come by in the portal and West Virginia certainly has a nice building block in place.
— Story by Keenan Cummings
